Friday, November 22, 2013

Beach 2 Battleship was almost a month ago and I seem to be becoming a big fat slob! I'm sure my weight has probably pushed back up somewhere towards 200 lbs, but thankfully I haven't been stupid enough to look! Via a combination of circumstances which include "budget time" at work; work travel; out-of-town visitors; general family stuff and pure laziness I have managed to do very little in the way of workouts over the past few weeks and now I'm struggling a little to get motivated.....

On the plus side, it has given me the chance to rest my knee for a while and I've enjoyed a little more red wine in the evenings! But now it's time to get real again, and this week I have at least managed to keep-up with the light workout schedule that The Coachman has prescribed (albeit not in the order he gave me - probably another demerit for me!).

Another positive to come out of this is that I've had the chance to slow down a little and think about my objectives for the off-season and next years racing calendar.

Along with the other "Mad Birds", Compass, Snort and Flipper, I have been thinking a lot about whether I want to do a full Ironman distance 140.6 mile race. After a lot of thought and discussion (including, of course, with SWMBO and The Coachman) I have come to the conclusion that, yes, I would like to do a full Ironman, but that 2014 is not the best year. We struggled to find a race that fits with our already crazy calendar and how I would fit in not only the race itself, but all of the training required.

A secondary consideration was a non-binding pact that was made with the Mad Birds to race a 140.6 together. This appeals not only because they are a fun and crazy bunch, but because we could train together sometimes (riding 100+ miles up to Virginia and back on your own gets old quickly!). Compass, of course, is preggers at the moment, so obviously nothing for her next year (it's cute that she still has absolutely no idea what she has coming to her! :-) ) but she's determined to do one in 2015. Trying to get Snort to commit to anything (except food and alcohol) is like trying to nail jello to a wall, but we all know that she'll do one. Flipper has taken a different approach and signed-up for Ironman Coeur d'Alene next year. She states that it will probably be the only one she ever does, but we know that that's BS as well!

So.... if the longer term objective is a 140.6 in 2015 with an emotional new mother, an angry soccer mom and a broken distance athlete, what will next season hold? :-)

I'm already signed-up for Ironman Raleigh 70.6 in June, so that will become my "A" race. Beyond that, I currently have no commitments, so I have started to think about what my limiters are and what I can do in 2014 to prepare for the possibility of "going long" in 2015. Here, in a nut shell, is what I came up with:

I can generally do the longer distances and have a good mind set for endurance, but I'm slooooow. I need to work on speed before I start to pick-up endurance work again

My technique could be much better in all three disciplines. Especially swim and run, but also on the bike. I need to improve my technique.

Core strength and flexibility are definitely limiters for this Old Fart. I can improve these.

I weigh too much. If I'm serious, I should lose around 15 lbs or so.

So, after chatting with The Coachman, we have an off-season plan that will include more drills, speedwork and core/strength training. I also intend to do The OSB Power Stroke clinic in the spring and, hopefully, do some individual video swim sessions with The Coachman. I would also like to see if there's somewhere I can get video gait analysis for my run.

On top of that, if I'm lucky enough to get a bonus this year, I may invest in a power meter for the bike - just one more thing for the geek in me to analyse and obsess over!
As for losing 15 lbs, obviously once I start burning more calories again that will help, but I also intend to get serious about diet and "calories in". I'm realistic though, and will try to be sensible over the holiday period without beating myself up before getting more focused in the New Year. I'm so lucky that SWMBO is a truly fantastic cook and that we already use healthy indredients and eat very healthy food, but I can still cut down on snacking, make some substitutions, use "portion control" and go easy on the red wine!

From the race point-of-view, it seems to me that Olympic distance races are perfectly suited to my objectives - I can keep distance/endurance in the swim and suffer like hell in the bike and run legs! :-) So I will be targeting Olympic distance and no doubt throw in a few sprints, road races and probably the Cary Duathlon at the start of the season. I'll keep you posted as the race calendar develops.

Now I just need everyone to keep reminding me of these goals and to help me get there - thanks!

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Back on Saturday October 26th I took part in the Beach 2 Battleship 70.3 mile "half iron" distance triathlon in Wilmington, NC..... I guess this race report is long overdue. I'll try to keep it short!

This race is gaining a very good reputation and (somewhat surprisingly, I have to say) is rated by Triathlon Magazine readers as one of the top five triathlons in the world.... It's a great race, but how can this be when there are so many great races and venues?

Anyway....

I'll spare you all of the usual preamble; suffice to say that I made the two hour drive down to Wilmington on a beautiful, crisp Friday morning and arrived at the Convention Center on time. The check-in line was pretty long....

...but apart from that, everythiing was very well organized. After taking a look around the expo. and buying a natty new bike jersey, I attended a long, but entertaining compulsory athlete briefing (where I sat with fellow OSB athlete and fellow Brit Anne McDonald and her family) before dropping my "T2" gear bag off and heading out to Wrightsville Beach to drop off The Slut and set-up my "T1" transition area

Anne - pretending to be nervous before the race, when really she knows that she's going to absolutely crush the run and smash her personal best tomorrow!

The transition area was on the grounds of the Wrightsville Beach Municiple Complex. Thankfully there was plenty of parking and I soon had The Slut in position before heading over to take a look at the swim finish.

How T1 would have looked before color photography was invented....

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....and in 2013

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It was nice that my number matched the year of my birth!

The ubiquitous shot of The Slut in position

The swim for this race is in the intercoastal waterway. The start is on Wrightsville Beach island and once in the water you basically turn right and swim about 3/4 of a mile to a single turn buoy before turning left and cutting diagonally past a small island to the swim exit at Seapath Marina.

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The swim finish showing the path around the island and diagonal swim to Seapath Marina

There were numerous athletes from the Outer Banks Tri Group competing and it was nice to run into Jim Snyder and Samantha after checking out the swim finish. The following day Jim would run the entire 26.1 mile marathon (he was doing the "full iron" distance) in a gas mask to raise awareness for wounded warriors - awesome!

Now that I was set-up and had the lay-of-the-land, there wasn't much to do but head back to the hotal and wait for SWMBO and the Junior Sassoons to arrive! Once they were safely checked-in we enjoyed dinner at the local Olive Garden and headed back for an early night!

This race starts at 07:30 for the 140.6 distance and 08:00 for the 70.3 mile distance so it made a nice change not to have to set the alarm for 04:00! On top of this, there was a wave start for the 70.3 and my advanced age meant that I was in the second to last group to start and wouldn't be entering the water until around 09:20. The previous evening I had arranged a taxi to take me from the hotel to Wrightsville Beach and it arrived only a few minutes late at around 06:45 (phew!). The first thing that I noticed as I stepped out into the fresh air.... it was freakin' cold! The O/N low was close to a record for the date in Wilmington and it was around 34 F and breezy as we left.

Once I had double-checked my T1 area and spent some time chatting to Anne and her husband Dave and also to OSB Athlete Audrey Shipprack (who wasn't racing, but was supporting her friend Diane) I headed to the shuttle bus that would take me to the swim start.

Despite my late wave start, all athletes had to be over the bridge and onto the island early, so unfortunately I was in for a long wait in the freezing conditions. I had my wetsuit on and was layered-up with a long-sleeve T, a ratty old sweathsirt, socks, old sneakers and Dollar Store gloves (all of which would be left at the start and donated to the Salvation Army) but it was still COOOLD! Things improved slightly as the sun got a little higher, but I was very pleased when it was finally my turn to get into the water, which was still close to 70F.

Swim: 1.2 miles. 00:39:43

Beach 2 Battleship has a reputation for fast swim legs because there is often a "tidal push" that helps propel you to the finish. Unfortunately this year.... not so much! The tide was basically slack, so there was little, if any, push as shown by my time, which was slightly slower than I swam at Raleigh Ironman 70.3.

After getting "that constricted feeling" for a short time while wearing my wet suit at Lake Royale Sprint, I decided to stay out of the fray and waited for the faster guys in my age group (white caps) to get going before I started. I pretty soon got out to the middle of the channel and found good water and a nice steady stroke. There were a few guys who were a little erratic and crossed my line, but in general I had no difficulty sighting off the large orange turn buoy that was 3/4 of a mile ahead. No problem with the turn and then think that I took a good line cutting closer to the jetty on the right, followed by the grassy island on the left as I headed to the finish. Overall I was satisfied with this.

The swim exit was up steps onto a dock and there were "wet suit strippers" to help you remove your rubbery warmth.... brrrrr! It was chilly when that came off! There was a long run (about a quarter of a mile) over rough pavement to T1, but on the plus side, there was a walk-through tent with warm showers running to help flush away some salt water.

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Coming out of the water with wetsuit under my arm and sporting my new OSB Racing Team shorts!

﻿ T1 was uneventful. 00:06:23 - sounds slow, but that includes the long run and putting on arm warmers, gloves and a wind jacket for the bike - it was still COLD!

Bike. 56 miles. 03:11:06.

Definitely slower that I was targeting (and slower than Raleigh Ironman 70.3, but this was a common story because of the wind). The way the course is set-up you basically ride ~35 miles north out of Wrightsville Beach and then ~20 miles south back into downtown Wilmington. Unfortulately there was a pretty good wind from the north, so the first 35 miles plus felt like a lot of hard work! I kept in aero position and maintained a good cadence, but it was always destined to be a slow ride. I didn't have any issues on the two "metal grid" bridges that everyone had talked so much about last year. Another plus was that I managed to judge my clothing well and stayed warm without over-heating. My major observation is that the bike course is bor-ing! Lots of flat highway and not much of interest until close to Wilmington. Because I was in a late wave start, I wasn't overtaken by many people and overtook loads, so that at least made it a little more fun!
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Wrapped-up warmly somewhere on the bike course!

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T2 was pretty uneventful. Somewhat unusual in that you hand your bike off to a volunteer who racks it inside the Convention Center before running to a changing area where you pick-up your gear bag and change into running shoes. Unusually I stopped to pee! 00:04:33

Run. 13.1 miles. 02:21:17.

Ugh! This is where I fell apart a little because my right knee started hurting so badly! The run started well and I felt good when I first spotted Compass and Flipper cheering me on and making sarcastic comments about my hair! :-) They had come to support me, Rabbit and others that they know - awesome! Shortly after that, as I passed the finishing chute on my way out, it was even more awesome to see SWMBO and the Junior Sassons, who were making posters as I passed. The course went south along the river walk and out of Wilmington Center before a long out-and-back section through a park around a lake. Apparently at one point there was a juvenile alligator lying on the course, but I didn't see it!

About three or four miles in I became acutely aware that my right knee was hurting and, before long, I was down to not much more than a jog. I'm pleased with myself for "toughing it out" and running the whole thing (apart from a couple of aid stations where I walked so that I could drink) but the time is obviously pretty dismal! It was nice to see Compass and Flipper again as they rode their bikes next to me and chatted a while before disappearing (presumably to some bar or house of ill-repute!). Great also to see speedy Anne and crazy Aussie Eleanor Richardson as the passed me on their return legs as I was still running out. Somewhere out there Angie McDonald, who I had seen at the swim start, was also rocking it. There was a great OSB cheering section in downtown Wilmington, but I have no idea who they were! All I know is that I want some of what they were drinking! :-)

Overall: 06:23:01 Much slower that I was targeting, but I'm not beating myself up - many others were in the same boat because of the conditions and my knee problem didn't help!

After ice cream with the Junior Sassoons we picked-up my bike and gear bags before heading back to the hotel for a shower and short rest. The wonderful Thai food that evening was well earned!
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The run before my knee started hurting!

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On Sunday we enjoyed a really nice day looking around historic downtown Wilmington and touring the Bellamy Mansion before heading home.

Another one in the books!

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The Sassoons on Sunday morning with the USS North Carolina in the background. Thanks so much for coming out to support me - I love you!